More than a thousand people turned out Saturday for the grand opening of Ryan’s Rise Up Café in Glen Mills, with some waiting outside in the morning air just to be among the first through the door.  

By the time the 9 AM ribbon cutting gave way to cheers and applause, the steady stream of customers showed this was more than a coffee shop opening, Jen Samuel reports for the Daily Local. 

Ryan’s Rise Up is a nonprofit café built to create employment, training, and community for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  

It was inspired by Ryan Vail, a Garnet Valley High School graduate who has Down syndrome, and built by his parents, Jim and Rose Vail. 

Rose Vail watched her son get handed the kind of jobs so many people with disabilities are offered: folding towels, breaking down pizza boxes, sweeping floors, and wiping tables.   

She was certain Ryan was capable of far more than the work he was being given, so the family built a place where that capability could be on full display.  

At Ryan’s Rise Up, Ryan and other young adults make coffee, plate pastries, assemble sandwiches, and run the register, all of it front and center, face to face with the community. 

“This is a meeting place and also it gives the opportunity for the public to come in and see exactly what these young adults are capable of,” Jim said. 

On Saturday, family, friends, local leaders and supporters celebrated the café as a place where people of all abilities can be seen, valued, and celebrated, with Ryan at the heart of it. 

Jim had a promise for everyone who stepped inside. 

“I guarantee you when you walk out of here you’re going to walk out here in light. You’re going to walk out here feeling good and inspired,” he said. 

Read the complete story in the Daily Local to learn more about the cafe’s grand opening, the story that inspired it all, and what visitors can expect when they step inside. 

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